US and South Korea 'push North Korea closer to WW3' by carrying out tests TODAY

NORTH Korea has said the US is “pouring gasoline on fire” and pushing the two nations closer to nuclear war if Washington carries out military drills with South Korea – which are to be carried out today.

South Korea has also been condemned by Pyongyang for its part in the 10-day military exercise, with North Korea labelling it as “reckless behaviour driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war".

Around 17,500 US troops are expected to take part in the exercise, yet most will only be involved in the computer simulation aspect.

State media in the hermit nation said: "The joint exercise is the most explicit expression of hostility against us, and no one can guarantee that the exercise won't evolve into actual fighting."

It added: “If the United States is lost in a fantasy that war on the peninsula is at somebody else's doorstep far away from them across the Pacific, it is far more mistaken than ever."

Related articles

Russia and China had tried to broker a deal which would see a pause on military exercises in exchange for a freeze on Pyongyang’s missile tests, but the US has claimed their drills are defensive in nature.

Joseph Dunford, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, added military drills were "not currently on the table as part of the negotiation at any level”.

The upcoming drills are part of two annual war games held every year involving a large number of troops.

GETTY

Pyongyang threatened to strike the US territory of Guam

US and Japanese tanks take part in military exercise - in pictures

Mon, August 14, 2017

US and Japanese tanks have taken part in a joint exercise in Eniwa, on the northern island of Hokkaido in Japan as tensions rise over the North Korean nuclear threat